Balloons¶

Overview¶

Most people fly their tracker with a helium balloon.

Here's a guide about using a reliably good, cheap, working one.

Speedrun summary of reading this page

Steps to launching:

You can get great 50" foil balloons for $3 apiece!

Stats

52 grams

Length = 49" end-to-end

Fill with helium (the right amount)

Valve port

Cutting the inflation tube at an angle makes inserting it into the balloon easier

You do not need to heat seal or glue the balloon closed

Just some tape will do it.

Kapton tape is used in the pictures below.

You can just tape the antenna wire to the balloon, easy

You can use the top antenna wire of the tracker to hold the tracker

As noted on the Jetpack tracker antenna page, even 36AWG magnet wire is more than strong enough to suspend your tracker from the balloon.

You do not need a separate load-bearing wire or cable support. Even thin magnet wire is more than sufficient.

Having a handle for the balloon is useful also

Below is shown a ribbon loop that helps hold the balloon also.

Effective attachment process

Make a ribbon loop handle.

Attach loop by folding the nozzle over it.

Wind the antenna wire around your finger 5+ times.

Spread out the loops of the antenna wire so lots of surface area.

Tape the spread out wire to the balloon. Holds lots of weight.

When moving around the balloon, either hold the neck or loop.

Consider waiting until launch site to attach

Much easier to transport the tracker with antennas rolled and secured separately from the balloon.

Once you're there, it's a 2 minute job to wind and tape the antenna.

Total weight doesn't really matter that much (within reason)

I mean, it matters some. But a few grams here or there doesn't really matter.

Just do something simple that works, then iterate. No need to get super complicated right away.